The Special Lists

The Special Lists

The Special Lists, presented by Referral Lab, is the podcast for dentists and dental specialists. Running a dental practice isn’t easy, and if you’re in private practice, it can sometimes feel like you’re on an island. That’s why finding your people—those who’ve been in your shoes and can share real, lived experiences—changes the game. Referral Lab is for dental specialists, helping you track, manage, and convert every referral. It’s about improving case acceptance, boosting team performance, and strengthening relationships with referring providers so your whole practice runs smarter. This spirit of connection drives The Special Lists podcast. Hosted by the team behind Referral Lab, we bring you hard-earned wisdom from practice owners and dental professionals, each guest sharing their own "special list" from the wins, mistakes, and lessons that shape their practices today. Got a question for us? Send us a message at speciallists.com (with two L's!) Transform your referral workflow with Referral Lab, the purpose-built platform for dental specialists to track, manage and convert every referral. Request a demo at referrallab.io Cameron Full Co-Founder of Referral Lab Cameron Full, co-founder of Referral Lab, is a strategic problem-solver with expertise in business management and digital solutions. He combines leadership, creativity, and technology to drive success across various industries. Michael Seda, DMD, MS Periodontist and Co-Developer of Referral Lab A clinician and entrepreneur, Dr. Seda brings 19 years of private practice experience to his periodontal and implant surgery practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Seda’s interests are rooted in evaluating and influencing private practice management systems in dentistry. He wants to increase practice efficiency, establish a greater sense of collaboration and trust among practice team members, and enhance quality of care and service delivered—all while maximizing and growing profitability. Through associateship opportunities early in his career, Dr. Seda was exposed to various private practice leadership and business models. He witnessed first-hand inconsistencies in the degree of success and failure owners experienced in private practices. This ignited his passion for learning what empowers practices to thrive and grow successfully while delivering a highly satisfying patient experience. He is particularly interested in using cutting-edge analytics platforms to measure advanced practice metrics. He leverages these to design data-driven strategies to enhance referral patterns, scheduling systems, case acceptance rates, and other key performance indicators that lead to practice growth and patient satisfaction. His education spans several disciplines, including a degree in Psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles, a Doctorate degree from Harvard University (DMD), and a Master’s degree in Periodontics and Oral Medicine from Columbia University. Jason Souyias, DDS Periodontist and Co-Founder of Referral Lab Dr. Jason Souyias is a periodontist, educator, and co-founder of Referral Lab software. He teaches dentists and hygienists, including as a Pikos Institute faculty member. In his Port Huron private practice, he's known for excellent patient communication and experience. He's passionate about his work and dedicated to helping other dentists. The Special Lists is a production of The Axis theaxis.io

Episodes

June 11, 2026 54 mins
The thing nobody tells you about running your own dental practice is that the anxiety doesn't quiet down — it just gets louder for the first 20 years, and then you look back and realize none of the things you were afraid of actually happened. Eman Traynor knows. She built Traynor Periodontics & Implants from scratch in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1998 and ran it solo for 27 years on a steady drip of stress she now wishes sh...
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Andrew Skasko spent a full year working shoulder-to-shoulder with his associate on every procedure, paying him the whole time, before they opened a second location together. That associate is now his partner across multiple practices, with three to four more sites in the pipeline.

Skasko is a restorative dentist in New Albany, Ohio, a clinical assistant professor at Ohio State, and a two-decade Seattle Study Club member who'...
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AACD taught Dr. Tracey Nguyen to be good with her hands. The mouth–body connection taught her how to keep that work intact for years.

Tracey is a restorative dentist, scientific advisor at the Kois Center, AACD Accredited Member, and co-founder of ASAP Pathway — the first comprehensive online education platform for pediatric airway and sleep dentistry. She joins Cameron, Dr. Seda, and Dr. Souyias to talk about wh...
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Running a dental practice isn't taught in dental school, and most owners learn it the hard way. Practice coach and former periodontal practice co-owner Geri Gottlieb joins the show to share what 30+ years in dentistry — and a humbling jump into ownership herself — taught her about what actually makes a practice work.

Geri unpacks why dentistry is a team sport, why culture is anything but soft, and why a culture i...
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Beyond clinical skill, running a successful dental practice requires clear vision, strong systems, and the right people.

Periodontist and MAZ Management co-founder Dr. Justin Zalewsky shares the leadership principles that guide his approach, including organizing life into three buckets — work, thinking, and personal time — and using tools like impact filters to keep projects and teams aligned. 

He exp...
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What does it really take to build a dental practice that’s future-proof and not just profitable?

Through relentless investment in safety, leadership, and education, oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. David Lee Hill shaped Chapel Hill Oral Surgery into what it is today. 

From rebuilding his entire facility to meet AAAHC standards, to adopting a dual-provider anesthesia model, to embracing dynamic navigation ...
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Dentistry looks polished from the outside, but behind the scenes, it’s harder, messier, and more human than most people realize.

Dental industry veteran Mike Gergen believes the key to success is lifelong education, culture that holds up under pressure, and leaders willing to admit that dentistry is both a clinical craft and a business. 

Hear why “just go to the course” might be the best advice ...
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Want to know how one periodontist turned patient-centered care into a thriving, multi-practice powerhouse?

Dr. Amit Patel is the founder of ROOT Periodontal and Implant Centers and co-founder of the Center for Oral Pathology, one of the country’s busiest oral medicine practices. Frustrated by slow biopsy results and limited patient access, he and his partner now see 150 new patients a month for oral pathology, TMD, and...
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From Army infantry to dental empire, Dr. Jeffrey Burch explains his formula for building a team that actually sticks.

He’s a periodontist, former Army infantry soldier, and the CEO of Burch Dental Partners, overseeing 15 practices and 23 dentists. His “Team Never Sell” model focuses on long-term partnerships instead of flipping practices, with retention rates far above industry averages.

Culture is t...
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North Carolina periodontist Dr. Deana Cook believes the real engine of a dental practice isn't the dentist, but the team running it.

Dr. Cook has two thriving practices and an executive MBA from UNC. With a background in art history, she blends creativity with science and a people-first approach to running her team. 

In her practices, Dr. Cook leans into transparency, daily KPIs, and fun incentives like team lunc...
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For Dr. Lee Cochrane, clarity came through doing: learning on the fly, adjusting quickly, and letting the early chaos shape better systems. He talks about what it really takes to build a periodontal practice from the ground up, and why you often have to start before you feel “ready.”

A big part of his story is culture. Lee is honest about how much a practice depends on the people inside it. He describes the power...
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Dr. Nicole Saldua is a general dentist known for her shockingly candid Instagram takes on the human side of dentistry—the loneliness that can creep in, the challenge of calming anxious patients, and dentistry’s failures to explain care in a way real people actually understand. 

For her, clarity comes from simple language, strong analogies, and frameworks that make consent feel collaborative, not scary.
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With a decade of experience in dental private equity and specialty group leadership, Chicago entrepreneur Rashed Din’s biggest lesson is simple: culture is the real engine. It's daily behaviors anchored in clinical quality, clear values, and leaders who actually live them. Growth only works when new partners share those fundamentals.

He keeps finance and operations just as grounded. Deals should be easy to understand, ...
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Dr. Krupa Patel knows that success in dentistry isn’t just about clinical skill—it’s about connection, communication, and shared vision. Reflecting on her journey from associate to soon-to-be partner with Dr. Jason Souyias, she offers an honest look at what it really takes to build trust and grow through collaboration in today’s dental world.

Her path was built on mentorship, mutual respect, and clear...
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Dr. Jason Stoner built his career with equal parts vision, grit, and style—often quite literally. From a single practice in Columbus, Ohio, he’s grown to eight locations, achieved financial independence by 48, and earned a reputation as one of dentistry’s boldest innovators.

Dr. Stoner shares how reverse engineering guides both his business and his life, why teamwork is the ultimate growth strategy, and how...
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Dr. Chris Catalano started early, mopping floors at veneer courses and absorbing everything. Working alongside some of cosmetic dentistry’s biggest names, he learned through failure and built a practice patients rave about today.

Reflecting on what it means to be a “safe beginner,” Dr. Catalano’s special list includes lessons from a practice collapse that reshaped his vision, and why vision boards, me...
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Dr. Mitch Godat never planned on becoming a dentist, but a life-changing accident at 14 set him on a path to periodontics and dental implants. He looks back on his career, from joining Dr. P.D. Miller’s practice to learning why mentorship and community matter just as much as clinical skill.

Learn about the value of mastermind groups where peers share challenges, swap strategies, and lean on one another when practice ow...
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Dr. Rob Ritter has spent decades proving that dentistry is so much more than drilling and filling. It’s leadership, branding, and running a small business that actually thrives.

Since the early ’90s, he’s watched the profession change and has built a career on mastering his craft, protecting his brand, and never lowering his standards. His course, The Protocol, bridges the gap between what dental school tea...
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Dr. Jennifer Doobrow knows leadership isn’t just a fancy title—it’s a lifelong grind of learning, serving, and owning your actions.

From running the playground in elementary school to shaping the future of dentistry in Alabama as president of the Alabama Dental Association, she’s dedicated herself to mentoring, facing challenges head-on, and keeping her ego in check.

She breaks down why transpa...
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Dr. James Woodyard doesn’t believe in coasting.  After over two decades in practice, he still looks at everything with a “fresh eyes” approach, from hygiene exams to communicating risks without sugarcoating to help patients confidently make difficult decisions.

From the team training method inspired by his Boy Scouts leadership to his zero tolerance for gossip, his special list will help you rethink le...
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